Blogs and Commentary

NCAA Division III Notebook

Back in 2010, Jake Coon brought his RIT team down to Stevenson
to open the season and it wasn't pretty. The Mustangs used two
seven-goal runs to roll the Tigers, 20-10. It was a rude welcome
for Coon, who was in his first year in Rochester.

After Wednesday night's 12-11 loss to the Mustangs in overtime,
Coon is now 0-2 against Stevenson, but his team is in a much
different place than it was four years ago.

"That was my first game as a head college coach and, frankly, I
don't think the players were familiar enough with our systems,"
said Coon. "This year, we didn't have a very good scrimmage
[against Conn. College and Adelphi] on Saturday, but the guys came
out and played hard. I'm proud of how they responded."

Coon said that in 2010, Stevenson turned just about every
mistake into a goal. That stayed the same this year, with the
Tigers taking nine penalties, and allowing two EMO goals, while the
Mustangs were rung up for just a pair of flags and no goals. While
Coon found some of the calls curious — and is still unsure of
a rules interpretation regarding a double stick check late in the
game — it provided the team a benchmark that they could use
going forward.

"We'll talk about the positives and build off of those and
correct some other aspects," Coon said. "It was an out of region
game, so it won't hurt us too much at the end of the season, and
playing the No. 2 team in the country isn't going to set you back
in that regard, anyway."

One of the big positives was the play of the Tigers' midfield.
Coon knew his midfield would have to carry the load early in the
season with the graduation of Tyler Russel and A.J. Tingle and the
departure of Brendan McDonald on attack. Three goals came out of
the attack against Stevenson, but the midfield was as good as
expected.

Leading the way was sophomore Kyle Aquin. With the Mustangs
leading, 10-7, with under seven minutes in the game, Aquin scored
two of his four goals and dished out his only assist to help draw
the Tigers even at the end of regulation. Aquin, who is wearing a
redshirt, is also a captain — an impressive honor for a
second-year guy.

"He tried to play hockey for a little while after he graduated
from high school and then missed last year with an ACL injury, so
he's older than your typical sophomore," Coon said. "The other
players see him as a leader despite what his eligibility is."

RIT will have the weekend off as it prepares to host Brockport
on Wednesday and then play a neutral site contest against Keuka
next Saturday. The Tigers weren't able to start their season with
an undefeated streak as they've done the past two season, but this
program is in a much better spot than it was in 2010 at this
time.

- Senior Rich Dupras is the best player on No. 6 Stevens, and
when he was credited with 17 shots — a third of the 51 the
Ducks took — in a 14-8 win over Merchant Marine, it looked
like it was going to be a prolific season for the midfielder.
Dupras is still going to have a huge year, but he's not going to be
doing it by bombing away if Stevens head coach Gene Peluso has
anything to say about it.

"We weren't happy with Dupras on Wendesday and we made no bones
about it in the locker room," Peluso said. "He wasn't playing our
style. We want to dodge north-south and we want to take the shots
that we've earned, not dance around."

Peluso is a huge Dupras fan, and even admitted that Dupras came
up to him after the game expressing regret at his play. But Peluso
felt he needed to make sure everyone was on the same page.

"After the game against Merchant Marine when we got on Rich in
the locker room, we probably didn't need to," Peluso said. "But
it's a good for our guys in the locker room to see us get on Rich,
who is the most decorated player in Stevens history, so that they
know that if we're going to get on Rich, we're going to get on
everybody. Rich came out the next couple of days at practice and
worked on it and you saw the difference in him. He's certainly one
of those guys who responds well. He gets it and understands
the game extremely well."

With everyone working within the offensive system, the Ducks
have been dominant. They wiped out Endicott (21-9) and doubled-up
both Eastern Conn. (16-8) and No. 20 Springfield (16-8). Dupras'
production during that span? Ten goals and six assists on just
35 shots.

- In an important Pool B showdown, Greensboro defeated
Birmingham-Southern, 10-5, behind four goals from Alex Vander Hoff.
As teams jockey for position in line for one of the five
independent bids in May, this could be an important result for the
Pride. However, G-boro has more pressing concerns, and that's
getting to the .500 level. At 2-4, the Pride will have to finish up
with a 6-4 mark against some pretty stiff competition. While
Birmingham-Southern also has to go 6-4 down the stretch, its
schedule appears to be more forgiving, although Sewanee (3-0) is
looking like it could be a thorn in the Panthers' side in the
SAA.

- For the last 45 minutes of the game, Western New England
looked excellent against Stevenson, winning the last three
quarters, 4-3. Unfortunately for the Golden Bears, they spotted the
Mustangs a 6-1 lead after the first period. WNE will be players in
the North...one of last week's surprise scores was Lebanon Valley's
20-4 rout of Randolph-Macon. Well, Frostburg State handed LVC an
8-6 defeat on Saturday to improve to 3-0 on the season...Tim Angell
had seven goals and two assists in Washington & Jefferson's
19-7 win over La Roche...Cortland's Mike Kaminski made 15
saves and allowed only one goal against No. 14 Union. The Red
Dragons are already frightening.

Babson is quietly off to a 2-0 start with wins over Skidmore and
New England College...keep an on Saint Vincent in the Pool B
race...after losing its opener to St. John Fisher, Geneseo has
bounced back with two wins, including a 10-9 thriller against
Naz...things just aren't coming as easily for Goucher this year.
The Gophers have lost three straight...Hampden-Sydney's road win
over Ohio Wesleyan, helped by four goals from Jess Hawthorne, was
no small feat. The Tigers could easily be 11-1 heading into the
April 13 game with Roanoke...rough start for RPI. The Engineers are
now 0-3 after bowing to Keene State...Plattsburgh is 3-0.

Congrats to Transylvania and head coach Terry Justice after
posting the first win in program history, a 7-6 win over
Alma...also, congrats to Hope, Calvin, Olivet and Alma, four
new MIAA programs that picked up their first varsity wins. Hope
downed Baldwin-Wallace, 14-9, Olivet beat Benedictine, 16-12,
Calvin trimmed Defiance, 5-4, and Alma knocked off Wilmington, 7-5
on Sunday...it's one of the lesser known trophy games, but Drew
held on to the 'Madison Cup,' a rivalry game with cross-street
rival FDU-Florham. The Rangers have won five of the last six
meetings between the two schools...Elmira hung 26 goals on
Houghton, the most goals for the Eagles since at least 2003.